V08-05

Official Solution:

A bettor trying to predict the outcome of the one-day Cricket World Cup match in 1996 between the experienced Pakistan team and the unheralded Bangladesh squad probably would have favored Pakistan by 10:1 odds and being quite wrong

A. have favored Pakistan by 10:1 odds and being quite wrong
B. have favored Pakistan by 10:1 odds and been quite wrong
C. favor Pakistan by 10:1 odds and be quite wrong
D. favor Pakistan by 10:1 odds and been quite wrong
E. favored Pakistan by 10:1 odds and been quite wrong


A. The basic structure of the sentence is as follows: “A bettor would have favored Pakistan and being wrong.” i.e., “A bettor would have favored Pakistan and (would have) being wrong”. The usage “would have being” is grammatically incorrect. The correct usage is “would have been”.

B. CORRECT. The correct structure “would have favored and (would have) been wrong” is used. For hypothetical situations in the past “would have” is used.

C. For hypothetical situations in the past “would have” is used. For hypothetical situations in future "would” is used. The usage “..would favor Pakistan and (would) be wrong” can be used for a hypothetical situation in future, but not for an event that took place in the past (1996).

D. The basic structure of the sentence is as follows: “A bettor would favor Pakistan and been wrong.” i.e., “A bettor would favor Pakistan and (would) been wrong”. The usage “would been” is grammatically incorrect.

E. The basic structure of the sentence is as follows: “A bettor would favored Pakistan and been wrong.” i.e., “A bettor would favored Pakistan and (would) been wrong”. Bothe the usages “would favored” and “would been” are grammatically incorrect.


Answer: B